Unfortunately for the scammers, Mantel was all too familiar with the so called “Fake Microsoft” scam, which has been plaguing consumers for years.

The scam sees users tricked into thinking they’re on the phone with a Microsoft representative; if they fall for it, the user could end up giving scammers access to their computer. In some cases, the scammers hold the user’s data hostage and demand a ransom for its release.

“I didn’t even have a computer in front of me,” he said. “I was just tapping on the dinner table pretending to type.”

He even enlisted the help of his father, who pretended to be a police officer listening in on the call.

Eventually, Mantel managed to turn the conversation around on the scammers, leaving them frustrated and defensive as he accused them of being scam artists.

LISTEN: Mantel’s recording of the fake Microsoft scam

But Mantel, who recorded the entire conversation on his iPhone, hopes the conversation will be a lesson for those in the dark about these scams.

“I’ve seen personally how it affects consumers and it can honestly mess with people – it’s blackmail on your own computer. Working in retail you hear the horror stories of people falling for these things. Once a week it seemed to come up in conversation,” he said.

“I just thought the longer I kept them on the phone, the longer I was preventing someone else from being scammed.”